Hunter Biden convicted on three federal felony counts in Delaware gun trial

Hunter Biden purchased a.38 Colt Cobra at StarQuest Shooters in Wilmington on Oct. 12, 2018, and signed ATF Form 4473 answering 'no' to drug use questions.

Prosecutors said he possessed the revolver for 11 days before Hallie Biden found it in his truck and discarded it in a Janssen's Market dumpster on Oct. 23, 2018. Parking lot surveillance showed her disposing of the weapon.

A jury convicted him on three federal felony counts on Jun. 11, 2024, after about three hours of deliberations spread across two days.

Judge Maryellen Noreika declined to accept the parties' proposed plea and diversion agreement on Jul. 26, 2023, citing concerns about its constitutionality and the court's role. That ruling left the charges active and preserved the path to trial.

Prosecutors introduced Hunter Biden's contemporaneous texts and excerpts from his 2021 memoir as evidence of drug use around the Oct. 2018 purchase. The memoir passages were played for jurors.

Reporting shows large cash withdrawals and spending by Hunter Biden in fall 2018 were a focus of the prosecution, though the exact consolidated dollar totals cited in earlier copy (e.g., $683,000) were not verified in trial reporting. Use primary records or court exhibits for exact accounting.